Growth
by Taintless
Summary: Blaise Zabini has been ordered to kill Hermione Granger.


_You know what you have to do. I understand what you are feeling. I felt it last year. But you do not want to fail the Dark Lord, Blaise. I promise you that. You can do this._

_D.M_

Blaise took a sip from his pumpkin juice. How long had he waited for this reply? It was hardly comforting. True, Draco knew what he was talking about. He'd been assigned to kill Dumbledore last year, and he'd nearly killed many in the process.

But when it had come to it, Draco hadn't been able to do it. He could have taken out the most powerful wizard the Wizarding world had ever seen with a simple swish of his wand, but he wasn't able to. Draco Malfoy was not a cold blooded killer, and neither was Blaise.

But the Dark Lord had been lenient with him. The Dark Lord had known it would be Blaise's first kill. He could have ordered Blaise a much more complex task of killing a teacher. He could have ordered him to kill the highly protected Harry Potter. But he didn't.

All Blaise had to do was kill one girl.

He looked across he hall where she was sitting with her two friends. It wasn't as if she was anything special. She was just a girl. He'd never felt anything else but contempt for Hermione Granger, and he'd never admired her annoying smartness or questions in class. He'd never thought of her as attractive or pretty. She was just Mudblood Granger, a girl he wasn't even bothered enough to hate.

But she was just a girl, and he didn't feel he had any right to kill her.

It was all a ploy to weaken Potter anyway, and to send a message to the rest of the Mudbloods to watch their backs. It wasn't even something personal – she wasn't going to die for something she'd done, only something that she was, unlucky parentage and dirty blood.

He watched as Granger took a sip from her drink. His plan was already in motion, and he was ready when she got up to go to the bathroom. He followed her. He had the uncanny talent of not being noticed, being invisible, silent until the pounce.

She collapsed just entering the Entrance Hall, which was convenient because there was never anyone in the Entrance hall and he wouldn't have to carry her to far.

She was heavy, and he was relieved when he was far enough to let her down. It was snowing out and he knew what to do. He tied her, slowly and methodically, to the tree and waited for her to wake up. He needed to explain first.

Her eyes fluttered open, and she didn't waste much time in demanding to be untied. "I don't know what you're playing at, Zabini, but frankly I'm shocked at this kind of behaviour from you. You've gone too far, now untie me!"

"I can't, Granger."

Something in his voice made her shut up, and she stared at him as he rose his wand to her throat. She swallowed visibly.

"I've been commanded to kill you," he told her. "I don't want to, but I have to. It's either you or me, do you understand? What would you do in my position?"

"I wouldn't commit murder," she said defiantly. "No matter what."

Granger was telling the truth. She met his eyes straight on, and he knew she was telling the truth. They were different…they were capable of doing different things.

""I'm sorry," he whispered.

"Me too," she said stiffly. "Because if you do this, there's no turning back, Blaise." There was no warmth in her eyes for him. She was looking on him as she would any Death Eater. Because that's all he was now, or all that he was going to be.

"Do it, Blaise." Draco appeared from the snow behind him, almost invisible with his pale hair and skin.

"I can't," Blaise said, weakening.

"You have to. Granger's death will be quick and painless. Yours won't be. Believe me, I know the Dark Lord's punishment first hand. I,"- a rare flash of emotion in those grey eyes – "I don't want you to experience that."

Granger had her eyes shut, but Blaise saw two tears leek out onto her cheeks. He lowered his wand.

"I'll do it for you, if you want me to," Draco said.

Blaise watched as Draco rose his wand, and pointed it at the squirming Granger.

But Draco couldn't do it either. The two boys stared at each other. Blaise felt a rise of emotion in him, and found himself crying on Draco's shoulder. They clung on to each other, a momentary weakness of emotion caused by all that they would have to do and all they had lost. _Brothers._

Hermione Granger watched through tearstained eyes, and learnt more that day than she ever had from her books.


End file.
